The Reaction: Behind the Ad: Ron Paul supporters question Jon Huntsman's loyalty to America

By Richard K. Barry

Who: NHLiberty4Paul attacks Jon Hunstman.

Where: New Hampshire.

What's going on: I can't imagine that I will have been the first to say this, but the best argument against Ron Paul may be the idiots who are supporting his campaign. While not entirely fair to judge people by the company they keep, in politics it's an indicator that shouldn't be ignored either. At a minimum, a candidate should disavow comments made by supporters if, in fact, they disagree with those comments. If they don't, they wear them.

A group calling itself NHLiberty4Paul has just put out a very poorly made video that attempts to raise questions about Jon Hunstman's ties to China. It shows him speaking Chinese and also with his two adopted daughters, one Chinese and the other from India. I guess the implication is that Jon Hunstman is not a real American due to his supposed "foreign sympathies," that he is a Manchurian candidate. Whatever. And I love the Chinese music in the background, by the way. Really cool.

To their credit, the Ron Paul campaign is distancing itself from the attacks, and that's fine.

I guess it's even possible this ad was done and distributed by people who want to hurt Ron Paul given the fact that it is so unseemly. I mean, most reasonable people would probably think proficiency in a foreign language and the willingness to open up your family to children in need would be good qualities in a president. On the other hand, I've seen little evidence that Ron Paul supporters are reasonable people.

Here's Jon Hunstman's response. Talk about a softball opportunity.

What I object to is bringing forward pictures and videos of my adopted daughters and suggesting there is some sinister motive there. I have a daughter from China who was abandoned at two months of age in a vegetable market, picked up by the police and sent to an orphanage. No future, no hope, nothing to look forward to. Now she's in my family, and she's one of the greatest human beings I've ever known. She's also, at 12 years old, my senior foreign policy adviser.

Again, I can accept the fact that the Ron Paul campaign is not behind the ad. And I do want to be careful about suggesting that significant numbers of Paul supporters would be okay with this sort of thing. But it's a fair question. Is this a lone nut job, or is this what Paul brings to the campaign? Is this the type of character motivated by his brand of politics?

Politics in the big leagues is as much about how you manage your friends as it is about how you address your enemies. What say you, Congressman Paul?